Footage shot by CNN, which accompanied Bale, showed him asking to see Chen – via an interpreter – before being told to leave. Guards shoved him and tried to grab or punch the small video camera he was carrying.

"What I really wanted to do was to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is," Bale said.

According to CNN, which said the actor had invited it to go with him, he learned of Chen from news reports while filming the new movie, which China has submitted for the best foreign language film Oscar. The partially state-funded film is the most expensive Chinese movie ever made and was directed by Zhang Yimou.

Chen angered authorities by helping women who had suffered forced abortions and sterilisations. He was jailed for four years for damaging property and "organising a mob to disturb traffic" – charges his supporters say were trumped up – and has been under house arrest since his release.

Lawyers who have taken on sensitive cases have come under particular pressure in China in the last few years.

News of Bale's fracas came as state news agency Xinhua announced that rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has been missing for almost three years, had been sent back to jail for three years for breaking his probation.

Friends and supporters have expressed grave concern about his safety, particularly given his graphic accounts of alleged torture by security officials. Human rights campaigners said the announcement did little to allay concerns about the lawyer and his well-being.

Xinhua said Gao "had seriously violated probation rules for a number of times, which led to the court decision to withdraw the probation".

Gao was jailed for incitement to subversion in 2006, but his three-year sentence was suspended. A five-year probation period expires this month.

It is not clear how he has committed the violations, given that he is believed to have been in the custody of security officials since February 2009. He surfaced briefly and mysteriously last year but has not been seen since.

Gao's brother said he had not heard from the authorities and did not know what the notice meant but believed the move was related to the expiry of the probation period.

"Are they sending him to a proper prison? Which prison was he at before? Where were they hiding him?" he asked.

Gao Zhiyi said he approached Beijing police three months ago, but was told by one officer that his brother was a "missing person and no one knows where he is."

"Why were they hiding him for such a long time, what was his crime?" he said.

Calls to the Beijing No 1 intermediate people's court, the Beijing high court and the foreign ministry were not answered.